Her Personal Bodyguard

"He'd planned the same thing for Victoria. He just didn't know you'd be with her, Mark, and that you'd get behind him.

"Well, that was enough to explain how Max died, but not really enough to convict Gary if he decided to recant his confession. We had him dead to rights on the charge of attempted murder of you two, but the murder charge for Max was based only on Gary's confession. What we needed was a motive for both, so we asked him why he killed Max and tried to kill you.

"Gary asked if we could protect him if he told us. We said we'd put him in a cell by himself until the trial, and speak to the judge about similar arrangements when he went to prison. What he told us gave us a motive and Victoria, it puts you out of danger permanently.

"You have a brother-in-law named Jason, don't you? Well Gary used to work for Jason. That was until he was arrested for car theft. Jason had sold a Mercedes that turned out to be stolen. We're pretty sure Jason paid Gary to take the fall. Gary spent three years in prison for that, and when he got out, Jason hired him back, not to steal cars, but to kill Max. He paid Gary ten thousand to do it. After that happened and was ruled a suicide, Jason thought he was home safe and tried to collect the money like the first will said. When your lawyers told him to go pound sand, I guess he was furious. He was also smart enough to wait until things calmed down.

"Gary told us that Jason contacted him two weeks ago and said he wanted Victoria out of the way, and he'd pay Gary another ten thousand to take care of that."

"We had all this information two days after Gary tried to kill you, but the DA wanted confirmation. That took a while because of all the search warrants required, but we got enough to book Jason on instigating and paying for Max's murder and for your attempted murder. He was arrested yesterday morning by the Dallas Police, and we picked him up yesterday afternoon. He's in the jail in Paris if you want to go see him.

"When we interrogated him, he said he didn't do anything except try to collect what the will he had said was his. Then, we gave Gary's confession to his lawyer and left them alone for an hour. When we came back, his lawyer said Gary was a known criminal and no jury in the world would believe him since we offered him a reduced sentence if he testified against his client. That's when we showed him the phone records where Jason called Gary the day before Max disappeared and Gary called him the day after Max disappeared. We had the same pattern the day before Gary took a shot at you. The clincher was when we showed Jason and his lawyer the bank records that showed he'd made two withdrawals of ten thousand each that were before both crimes. The last thing we told him was the DA intended to ask for the death penalty.

"He and his lawyer talked for a couple of minutes and then the lawyer asked what we had to offer if Jason confessed.

"Well, we went back and forth for a couple of hours before Jason agreed to plead guilty to both crimes in exchange for life without parole instead of the death penalty. He'll go to court tomorrow, and if everything works out like it should, Jason will be in prison by tomorrow night. He'll die there."

The Sheriff stood up then.

"Well, folks, I've taken up enough of your time. Oh, I almost forgot. Mark, you're license is reinstated, though from what I hear you won't be needing it much longer. In Texas, you don't need a license to guard your wife. Congratulations to you both."

When the Sheriff left, Victoria put her arms around my neck and smiled.

"That was the next to last thing in my life that needed to be fixed, and now it is."

I asked her if that the next to last thing, what was the last thing, and Victoria grinned.

"Come in the bedroom and I'll explain it all to you."

Well, there was no way I was going to sit on my ass while Victoria paid all the bills, so after we were married, I looked around for something I could do to make some money. Victoria said she had an idea that would be best for us both.

It took almost a year to build the hunting lodge Max had designed, but it was everything any hunter could want. We have enough rooms for ten hunters, a dining area, and what I call our "evening area". That space has three pool tables, three card tables, and enough sofas and easy chairs to seat about twenty. The bar opens at six and closes at ten. The bartender I hired is a twenty-five year old woman with killer looks and a body that won't quit. The men all think she's hot and she makes more in tips than I pay her. We also have six kennels for the dogs the quail hunters bring with them.

We're open year round. The fifteen hundred dollar fee covers six days and nights with meals and one complimentary drink in the bar every night. We're usually full during deer and quail season, but since hog season is year round, we usually have a few out of state hog hunters staying with us during the off season. If you don't want to stay with us, we'll provide you a guide for two hundred a day.

The fall season is for deer and quail, and we fenced off half of the south pasture to keep the deer herd and cattle separate. That might seem to some to be unsporting, but that half of the pasture is about eight hundred acres, and the deer can be hard to find.

I hired three guys who'd grown up in the area to serve as guides, and most deer hunters get their one buck in no more than four days. The quail have the run of the place and most hunters get their limit in a few days. After that, they spend the rest of the six days relaxing at the lodge. I make an appearance in the "evening area" every night. We usually have at least one veteran in the bunch, and he and I swap stories while the others listen in.

All three guides know how to field dress a deer or a hog depending on if he customers wants a mount or not and what type. I also have a local butcher who will dress out your deer or hog or quail and pack the meat in dry ice for your trip home. He'll pack he head, cape, and hide for you too and ship it directly to the taxidermist of your choice.

On the twenty third of March last year, Victoria gave birth to my son. That day happened to be Max's birthday too, so his name is Maxwell Mark Rivers. No, Victoria didn't suggest that name. I did. It just seemed right that the man who built Aldor Cattle Ranch should have someone named after him.

Victoria will name the baby she's carrying right now. It's supposed to be a girl so she's thinking about Nora Jeanette. Nora was her mother's name and Jeanette is my mother's name. I don't know what we'll name a third baby, but the other day Victoria was hinting that she might like another. Well...it wasn't exactly a hint. What she said was since we'd have just one boy and one girl, they wouldn't have anybody to play with and she didn't think that was going to work very well so we'd have to fix it somehow.

I guess we'll find out if she still feels that way once Nora is born. I do know one thing -- if getting the third and fourth is as much fun as getting the first and second, it's gonna be hard to stop with four.